Misunderstanding open source #1: Fixate on Linux, Firefox, Eclipse

I have lost count of the number of times that various commentators about open source have fallen into this trap – thinking that every open source project is like, or should be like, Linux, Firefox, and Eclipse.

Certainly those projects are shining examples of the power and value of open source, but over-focusing on their structure, operation, and community is harmful.

Open source spans the continuum from a single-developer hobbyist ‘scratching their itch’ up to the global, foundation-guided, multi-layered Linux.

The same continuum occurs in the retail market – everything from a couple of kids with a lemonade stand, all the way up to Walmart.

The problem comes when open source columnists, commentators, and bloggers think that all open source projects are the same. Thinking that ideas, solutions, priorities, politics, motivations, and economics can be applied uniformly along these continuums is nonsense. Its like telling the kids on the lemonade stand that they need to follow Walmart’s example when it comes to marketing or negotiating with suppliers.

The problem is that most of the writers about open source have no actual experience of open source development. All they know is what they read and hear, and most of that happens to be about Linux, Firefox, and Eclipse.